The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-10-21
PUBLIC LANDS.
The Report of Commissioner SParIEs-
Frauds Reported to the Departments.

The Report of Commissioner Sparks
Frauds Reported to the Departments.
WASHINGTON, Oct 15.-Land Commits
siOner Sparks in his annual report to the
Secretary of the Interior says, at the outset,
that he has no word to recall that has
hitherto been uttered touching the misap-
preparations 10 which public lands have
been subjected through imprOvident laws
and inefficient methods of administration,
and to which they are still exposed under
the present wastefui and fraud-inspiring
systems of disposal. The operations of the
past year, as previously, have been con-
Quoted under the disCOurag Q gement Of
inadequate appropriations. but with
the limited means at his disposal,
he says, results have been achieved
that confirm the early statements of the
vastness of this field of reform, the con-
fines only of which have yet been fairly ex-
plOred. The report shows that since March
4, 1885. 81, ,S24, 481 acres have been restored
to the public domain. The sales, entries,
and selections of public land for the fiscal
year ended June 80, 1887, embrace 25, III, 100
acres and of Indian lands TAG, 637 acres,
making a total Of 25, SIS, ,O3S acres, being an
increase over the year 1856 Of
8, 733, 474 acres and an increase of
4, ,S62, ,524 acres as compared with
the fiscal year 1885. The receipts from the
disposals of public lands are so, 783, 921 and
from Indian lands 81, ,484, 3O2-a total of S12,-
26S, ,224, being an increase as compared with
the year 1856 of So, ,24S, ,727 and of 50, GAG 625
as compared with the fiscal year 1885. To
this is to be added IS, 291 received on ac-
count of timber depredatiOns and S12 493 re-
ceIved for certified copies Of records fur
nished by the General Land Ofice, making
the total receipts for the year from all
sources So, 2S9 OO8.
The report briefly reviews the work of
Il III
fOrnia and New Mexico in examining pri-
vate land claims. About forty claims in
New Mexico were examined and in nearly
every instance the Surveyor General
recommended their rejection principally on
the ground of fraud or non compliance with
the law Many were found to cover an
area several times as large as those Of the
original grant.
On the subject Of the forfeiture of rail
road land grants the Commissioner quotes
from his last annual report, and adds: Il
renew the recommendation that forfeiture
be declared in all cases in which the roads
were not completed within the time and in
the manner conditioned in the respective
grants"
OF fraudulent land entries, the Commits
siOner says that the Investigations of the
past year have been satisfactory and that
in no previous year has such effective work
been done. As a result 2,312 entries, COW
ering about $4,000 acres were held for can
collation., and l, 1853 entries, covering about
10000 acres, were cancelled for fraud.
One thousand and eleven cases of timber
depredatiOns or timber trespasses, the re-
port continues, have been reported on dur
ing the year, involving a value in timber
and product therefrom amounting to So
146, 935, recoverable to the United States.
The amount actually recovered during the
year through judgments, fines, ETC., is
S12S, 642 The wholesale destruction of
public timber on numbered sections of
public lands within the granted limits of
unconstructed railroads continues to an
alarming extent.
The Commissioner asks for increased
help and an increased appropriation to
carry out the reforms required.